The Union will pay R$113.88 million to the city of Porto Alegre to end a 24-year legal dispute relating to the Presidente Vargas Maternal and Child Hospital. The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) announced, on Friday night (27), the signing of the agreement regarding the transfer of the hospital to the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
According to the agreement, signed by the Federal Public Administration Mediation and Conciliation Chamber (CCAF), linked to AGU, the federal government will pay R$50 million in 2025. The difference in relation to R$113.88 million will be divided into installments annual payments for the following five years, without monetary correction or future interest.
The money will cover the hiring of municipal employees who will replace federal employees who were laid off between 2014 and 2021, a period in which the Union stopped transferring money to the hospital. In 2021, an agreement was signed, but doubts remained regarding the seven years in which the unit did not receive money from the Ministry of Health.
History
In 2000, the Union signed a transfer of use of the health unit which, in practice, transferred management of the hospital to the city of Porto Alegre, but there were disagreements as to whether the federal government should continue to contribute money to the health unit. The Ministry of Health and Porto Alegre City Hall disagreed on the transfer of funds from the Union for the management and execution of the hospital’s activities.
A first agreement was signed in 2021, allowing part of the reimbursement of Union expenses to the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. At the time, the Ministry of Health agreed to transfer R$45 million to the municipality to finance medium and high complexity treatments, and to increase the municipal ceiling of amounts allocated to these types of treatments by R$2 million per month (MAC Ceiling).
However, discussions regarding the hiring of municipal employees to replace federal employees dismissed in 2014 and 2021 continued. When adding the two agreements, the final negotiation was around R$160 million for the Union, in addition to the monthly increase to the resource ceiling for medium and high complexity treatments.
